The effect of a low molecular weight inhibitor of lipid peroxidation on ultrastructural alterations to ischemia-reperfusion in the isolated rat heart

The effects of H290/51, a novel indenoindole derivative inhibitor of lipid peroxidation, on ultrastructural changes during cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury were investigated. Langendorff-perfused rat hearts were exposed to 30 minutes of global ischemia followed by 20 minutes of reperfusion: Group A: Control hearts with standard buffer perfusion with vehicle added. Group B: H290/51 (10-6 mol/l) added to buffer throughout stabilisation and reperfusion. In an additional Group C, where hearts were given H290/51, but not subjected to ischemia, the ultrastructure was preserved till the end of reperfusion. Absolute volumes and calculated volume fractions (Vv) of tissue and subcellular components were assessed with quantitative stereologic morphometry. After ischemia the increase in volume of extracellular interstitium was inhibited by H290/51 (247±80 vs. 159±50ml, mean±SD, groups A and B, respectively, p<0.05). The Vv (interstitium/myocard) was higher in control hearts (0.318±0.062 vs. 0.206±0.067, p<0.05). Vv (cell edema/myocyte) was higher in the control group (0.144±0.07 vs. 0.083±0.033, p<0.05). Vv (myocyte/myocard) was higher in group B after ischemia than in the control group (0.622±0.071 vs. 0.707±0.052, p<0.05). The decreased Vv (capillary/myocard) after ischemia was inhibited by H290/51. After reperfusion there was no difference between groups. Treatment with H290/51 reduced edema and ensured better preserved sarcolemmal membrane structure during ischemia. The effect was no longer present after reperfusion.

“[We’re on the right track, baby], we were born that way!” Exploring sports participation in Norway

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Sport, Education and Society on 25/02/2013, available online: doi: 10.1080/13573322.2013.769947Based on quantitative data from the Norwegian Statistisk Sentralbyrå (Statistics Norway) study of Mosjon, Friluftsliv og Kulturaktiviteter, this paper explores trends in Norwegians' participation in sports, with a focus on young people. Norway boasts particularly high levels of sports participation as well as sports club membership and young Norwegians are the quintessential sporting omnivores. Among other things, the Statistics Norway study reveals substantial increases in participation (among young people and females especially) during the period 1997–2007, a shift in the peak of participation to the late teenage years, a relatively high level of lifelong participants, a re-bound effect in the post-child rearing years and a growth in lifestyle sports. Young Norwegians grow up in a socio-economic context of relative equality between the sexes and high standards of living. An abundance of natural and artificial outdoor and indoor sporting facilities alongside a well-established voluntary sports club sector and an elementary school system that emphasizes physical exercise and recreation, as well as high levels of parental involvement, add to the favourable socio-economic conditions to create seemingly optimal circumstances for sports participation. All these reinforce the sporting and physical recreation cultures deeply embedded in Norwegian society and embodied by the very many middle-class parents in a country which, for the time being at least, remains relatively young in demographic terms. In terms of lessons to be learned for policy towards sports and physical education beyond Norway, there may be grounds for some optimism around parental involvement in children's sport as well as the potential appeal of lifestyle sports. That said, it is likely to be the greater socio-economic equalities in Scandinavian countries such as Norway that make them unrealistic benchmarks for sports participation elsewhere

Isn’t it good, Norwegian wood? Lifestyle and adventure sports participation among Norwegian youth

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Leisure Studies on 19/08/2014, available online: doi: 10.1080/02614367.2014.938771Based primarily on quantitative data from the Norwegian Statistisk Sentralbyrå (Statistics Norway) study of Mosjon, Friluftsliv og Kulturaktiviteter (Vaage, 2009) supplemented by a little qualitative data, this paper explores Norwegian youngsters’ (and, to a lesser extent, adults’) engagement with conventional and lifestyle sports via an examination of recent trends. Norway boasts particularly high levels of sports participation as well as sports club membership among young people and young Norwegians are the quintessential sporting omnivores. Nevertheless, among the age group where regular participation peaks in Norway (16-19-year-olds) the popularity of games declined over the decade 1997-2007 while participation in lifestyle sports continued to increase (Vaage, 2009). It seems that the particular mix of conventional and lifestyle sports that Norwegian youngsters favour has shifted within a generation, with lifestyle activities more prominent in 2007 than they had been even a decade earlier. The changes in participation in a particular area of sporting participation strongly associated with Norwegian culture – friluftsliv (outdoor life) – may well represent a shift among Norwegian youth towards sports and physical activities that offer alternative forms, as well as types, of participation to conventional sports. They may also represent alternative motivations to those traditionally associated with sport and, for that matter, friluftsliv. The paper draws upon these findings in order to tentatively hypothesize developments in youth leisure-sport in Norway

Mission impossible? Reflecting upon the relationship between physical education, youth sport and lifelong participation

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Sport, Education and Society on 8 May 2012, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13573322.2012.683781It is widely believed that school physical education (PE) is or, at the very least, can (even should) be a crucial vehicle for enhancing young people’s engagement with physically active recreation (typically but not exclusively in the form of sport) in their leisure and, in the longer run, over the life-course. Despite the prevalence of such beliefs there remains a dearth of evidence demonstrating a ‘PE effect’. Indeed, the precise nature of the relationship between PE, youth sport and lifelong participation is seldom explored other than in implicit, often speculative and discursive, ways that simply take-for-granted the positive effects of the former (PE) on the latter (youth and adult participation in sport and physically active recreation). Using largely European studies to frame the issue, this paper reflects upon the supposedly ‘causal’ relationship between PE, youth sport and lifelong participation and, in doing so, highlights the inherent problems associated with attempts to identify, characterise and establish a ‘PE effect’.This book was submitted to the RAE2014 for the University of Chester - Sport & Exercise Sciences

Mycoplasma Contamination Revisited: Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Harboring Mycoplasma hyorhinis Potently Inhibit Lymphocyte Proliferation In Vitro

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have important immunomodulatory effects that can be exploited in the clinical setting, e.g. in patients suffering from graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. In an experimental animal model, cultures of rat T lymphocytes were stimulated in vitro either with the mitogen Concanavalin A or with irradiated allogeneic cells in mixed lymphocyte reactions, the latter to simulate allo-immunogenic activation of transplanted T cells in vivo. This study investigated the inhibitory effects of rat bone marrow-derived MSC subsequently found to be infected with a common mycoplasma species (Mycoplasma hyorhinis) on T cell activation in vitro and experimental graft-versus-host disease in vivo.We found that M. hyorhinis infection increased the anti-proliferative effect of MSC dramatically, as measured by both radiometric and fluorimetric methods. Inhibition could not be explained solely by the well-known ability of mycoplasmas to degrade tritiated thymidine, but likely was the result of rapid dissemination of M. hyorhinis in the lymphocyte culture.This study demonstrates the potent inhibitory effect exerted by M. hyorhinis in standard lymphocyte proliferation assays in vitro. MSC are efficient vectors of mycoplasma infection, emphasizing the importance of monitoring cell cultures for contamination

Paired opposing leukocyte receptors recognizing rapidly evolving ligands are subject to homogenization of their ligand binding domains

Some leukocyte receptors come in groups of two or more where the partners share ligand(s) but transmit opposite signals. Some of the ligands, such as MHC class I, are fast evolving, raising the problem of how paired opposing receptors manage to change in step with respect to ligand binding properties and at the same time conserve opposite signaling functions. An example is the KLRC (NKG2) family, where opposing variants have been conserved in both rodents and primates. Phylogenetic analyses of the KLRC receptors within and between the two orders show that the opposing partners have been subject to post-speciation gene homogenization restricted mainly to the parts of the genes that encode the ligand binding domains. Concerted evolution similarly restricted is demonstrated also for the KLRI, KLRB (NKR-P1), KLRA (Ly49), and PIR receptor families. We propose the term merohomogenization for this phenomenon and discuss its significance for the evolution of immune receptors

Identification of Markers that Distinguish Monocyte-Derived Fibrocytes from Monocytes, Macrophages, and Fibroblasts

The processes that drive fibrotic diseases are complex and include an influx of peripheral blood monocytes that can differentiate into fibroblast-like cells called fibrocytes. Monocytes can also differentiate into other cell types, such as tissue macrophages. The ability to discriminate between monocytes, macrophages, fibrocytes, and fibroblasts in fibrotic lesions could be beneficial in identifying therapies that target either stromal fibroblasts or fibrocytes. and in sections from human lung. We found that markers such as CD34, CD68, and collagen do not effectively discriminate between the four cell types. In addition, IL-4, IL-12, IL-13, IFN-γ, and SAP differentially regulate the expression of CD32, CD163, CD172a, and CD206 on both macrophages and fibrocytes. Finally, CD49c (α3 integrin) expression identifies a subset of fibrocytes, and this subset increases with time in culture.These results suggest that discrimination of monocytes, macrophages, fibrocytes, and fibroblasts in fibrotic lesions is possible, and this may allow for an assessment of fibrocytes in fibrotic diseases